Food front label and nonalcoholic pre-bottled beverages

Last February 14th, 2014, was published on the Official Journal of the Federation, a decree which modifies and adds new dispositions of the Regulation of Sanitary Control of Products and Services. As a result of the decree, on April 14th, 2012 was published the guidelines referred to in article 25 of such regulation. For informative purposes, this shall be included in the frontal area of the exhibition.

The objective of the agreement establishes the criteria and specifications that food products and nonalcoholic beverages shall comply with the information requirements, which shall be displayed on the front label of the product; establishing a reference quantity of product presentation to be considered as single or family product.

Mexico has official standards that establish regulations for labels on food and nonalcoholic beverages, informing the consumer through labels with nutritionist value. The following standards are:

• The Official Mexican Standard NOM-51-SCFI/SSA1-2010, general specifications on food labels and nonalcoholic pre-packaged beverages, commercial and sanitary information.
• The Official Mexican Standard NOM-086-SSA1-1994, goods and services, altered food and nonalcoholic beverages, and Nutritional value.

However, the mandatory front label shall have the following information:

1. State the calories on a product according to the recommended daily intake.
2. Source distribution of calories in saturated fat, other fats, total sugars, and sodium.
3. State the entire energy content of the product, portions, and calories.

In the case of saturated fats, other fats and total sugar shall indicate the energy intake of each nutrient, and the percentage of the product based on established values in the following chart:

The information shall be displayed on food labels and nonalcoholic beverages mentioned in article 25 of the Sanitary Control Regulations of Products and services. It shall be placed in the front display area of the container so it’s noticeable, informational, and legible. The front display area is where the name and brand of the product is.

The mandatory reference to be displayed shall be in the following icon:

The minimum dimensions are regulated according to the front display area (for further information of the calculation, please check NOM-030-SCFI-2006), in this way the mandatory dimensions shall be at list of 0.5% for each reported icon but never less than 0.6 centimeters wide and 0.9 cm of height. In every case, each icon shall have two-thirds wide, concerning the height.

THE NOURISHMENT EXPRESSION AND ENERGY INTAKE SHALL BE UNDER THE FOLLOWING:

To comply with the following order from left to right.

The calorie intake shall represent the saturated fat, other fats, and total sugars using the abbreviation kcal and the percentage sign %.

You shall represent the sodium content in milligrams with the abbreviation of mg, g when it’s stating more than a million and percentage % sign.

You shall represent the energy word with the number of corresponding kilocalories and the abbreviation of kcal or cal.

The food and nonalcoholic beverages containers considered as single shall state the nutrition declaration and energy intake by the entire content.

In the event of portions, an image will be added to state the kilocalories per serving which will be placed at the end of the image from left to right. This shall indicate the number of portions per content under the last-mentioned image in the following way:

This amount won’t apply to:

• Flavored beverages considered low-energy content.
• A single packaged product, whose content is less than the portion indicated in article nine of the agreement.

In the event of a family pack where the product doesn’t have a declaration per serving, it shall comply with the following:

• A declaration per serving, piece or homemade measured.
• An image will be added to state the total kilocalories at the end of the icon, from left to right.
• The number of portions content shall be indicated in the container, under the last-mentioned image.

The aim of the above is to inform the consumer about the entire energy intake if it’s consumed.

For further information regarding the corresponding calculation, exchange factors, size references of single or a family portion either measure or homemade units as well as the report; check the Agreement published in the Official Journal of the Federation dated on April 14th, 2014.

The National Strategy prevents and controls obesity. The obesity and diabetes specify that the food and nonalcoholic beverages labels shall inform the nutritional information to consumers and promote healthy decisions. The new front labels are a tool that the Federal Government uses to support this strategy. The challenge is to inform the consumer and make people think and analyze before purchasing a product, even though a product intake might be controversial.